The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Title: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Fiction (children’s)


The story takes place in London during WWII. Four children, Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan were sent to live out in the country with an old professor so that they would not be harmed during the air raids.

The professor lives in a very big, old, house with lots of rooms, servants and housekeepers. The house is so big that people actually come by the home asking for tours. The children were not to be seen while the maid was giving a tour. Well, one rainy day, the maid was giving a tour of the gigantic house and the children were trying to find a place to hide. They found themselves hiding in a wardrobe that seemed to have no back end. The next thing they knew, the solid oak floor turned into wet snow and the fur winter coats turned into trees. Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan had discovered Narnia.

At this point in the story, it is wintertime in Narnia. Winter and never Christmas.

Both Lucy & Edmund had been to Narnia on prior occasions when they were playing around in the wardrobe-but now all 4 of the children were together. Lucy was aware of the White Witch and knew that they needed to stay away from her at all costs. Edmund had personally met the White Witch and believed her lies. The witch sent Edmund on a mission to bring his 3 siblings to her and she would make them kings & queens of Narnia, and he would rule above them all. The witches true intensions however, were to turn the children into stone using her wand.

Enter Aslan. Aslan is a Lion and he is over the country of Narnia as well as other countries. Aslan comes to break the spell of winter and also to rescue Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan, but that rescue comes at a great price.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a story that children will enjoy, but I personally think adults would enjoy it better. If children do read it, it might be understood a bit better if an adult helped them. There are some big words and the fact that the story takes place in England can provide a bit of a challenge to the average (American) child. C.S. Lewis writes in the dedication page to his god-daughter Lucy that she is probably a bit to old for fairy tales. But pretty soon she will be old enough to read them again.

Watch for the movie The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe coming December 9th. There is also all kinds of paraphernalia already available in Christian bookstores. The photo of the book on this post is also an updated cover that was released in May of this year. It’s neat to see this classic re-visited for a new generation.